Kyllinga .] 
CYPERACEiE. 
415 
shorter than the stem, thin, but firm, in. broad. Heads ternate 
when the plant is properly developed, one central and a smaller one at 
each side, inch long, bracteated by 3-4 linear leaves, 2-5 inches 
long ; spikelets £ in. long. Glumes greenish-drab, 5-7-ribbed, ovate- 
lanceolate, acute, only one fertile, often scabrous on the keel and edge. 
Stamens usually 2. Achene oblong, brownish, smooth, half as long as 
the fertile glume. K. vaginata, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 381, not Lam. 
K. odorata, Vahl ; Kunth , Enum. ii. 132. 
Mauritius, frequent in swamps. Tropics of both hemispheres. 
3. K. poly phy 11a, Willd. ; Kunth Knu. ii. 134. Stems crowded 
on a short thickened rhizome, rigid, triquetrous, distinctly striated, 
a foot or more long. Leaves much shorter than the stem, firmer in 
texture and more rigid than in K. monoceyhala and triceps, •§— ^ in. 
broad. Heads ternate when fully developed, f in. broad and long, 
bracteated by 4-8 reflexed or ascending firm linear leaves 2-4 inches 
long ; spikelets in. long, usually 2-flowered. Grlumes brownish-drab, 
ovate-lanceolate, acute, 7-9-nerved. Stamens 3. Achene dark-brown, 
half as long as the fertile glume. K. involucrata, Bojer , MSS. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, frequent in swamps. Also Madagascar, Comoros, 
and Tropical Africa, I cannot clearly distinguish from this K. macrantha, Boeckl. 
in Linnsea xxxv, 420, from th Seychelles. 
3. MARISCUS, Vahl. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, in distichous 1-2-flowered spikelets. 
Grlumes boat-shaped much imbricated. Hypogynous bristles 0. 
Stataens 3. Style trifid, deciduous. Achene minute, triquetrous. — 
Habit of Cyperus § Eucyperus , from which it differs only by its few- 
flowered spikes. Distrib. As in Cyperus. Species 40. 
1. M. umbellatus, Vahl; Kunth , Enum. ii. 118. Perennial, 
densely tufted. Stems 1-1J ft. long, triquetrous. Leaves narrow 
linear, sometimes as long as the stem. Dmbel simple, 10-15-ray ed, 
bracteated by 8-10 linear leaves ; peduncles 1-2 in. long ; spikelets 
arranged in dense oblong clusters, £ in. long, 1-2- rarely 3-flowered. 
Glumes drab, elliptic, obtuse, with a green keel, much imbricated. 
Achene oblong, brown-black, \ the length of the glume. M. Sieber- 
ianus, Nees in Sieber , Herb. Maur. ii. No. 3. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, common in damp woods. Spread through the 
tropics of the Old World, and united by Boeckler with the American Cyperus 
ovularis, Torrey. 
